The brazen murder of a health insurance company CEO has shocked the public consciousness — but for some, it seems to be a relatively mild, pleasurable shock. Brian Thompson, the 50-year-old CEO of UnitedHealthcare, was shot and killed on the sidewalk outside a hotel in midtown Manhattan hotel early on Wednesday morning. Much of the internet response to this news has been ambivalent, bordering on enthusiastic, rather than horrified. Thompson’s killing was like something out of an Ian Fleming novel: the killer used a silenced 9mm pistol and left messages (the words "deny," "defend" and "depose") written on the shell casings like a version of Ted Kaczynski who avoids the post office. At this writing, the shooter remains at large, although video images showing his uncovered face are now in wide circulation.
Violence is a strategy that never warrants celebration because it is crude, brutal and ineffective, not to mention immoral. There’s always a better way, even if it’s not as easy or as dramatic. Nonetheless, it’s not bizarre or surprising to see that Reddit is being flooded with memes mocking the murder, or that many on social media are seemingly trying (or failing) to suppress their glee. There’s now even a rush to cash in with merch, such as a ballcap using the company’s logo next to crosshairs and the phrase “We aim to please.” A chart from valuepenguin.com displaying the percentage of claim denial rates by insurance companies, with UnitedHealthcare topping the list, has gone super viral, with one user on Threads captioning it, “To paraphrase Chris Rock ‘... but I understand.’”
